By Edward Schumacher-Matos
The Miami Herald
Published 10/28/2007
Excerpt:
There has been little reader response so far. So, I called Robert M. Steele,
a journalism professor and ethics expert at the Poynter Institute in St.
Petersburg. '"I'm very uncomfortable with the thought of news organizations
buying their way into campaign events," he said. "Disclosing it doesn't make
it go away. It's still a campaign contribution."
He is right, and The Miami Herald's own written guidelines prohibit staffers
from working or contributing to political campaigns. But guidelines are just
that: guidelines. There comes a time for editorial judgment, and that is what
was called for in this unusual situation.
The issue now is what to do going forward. Bill Richardson will come soon for
a "fundraiser." The reporters and editors I talked to are not totally clear on
what the policy will be, which indicates a need for a written directive. For
Gyllenhaal, it's simple. "We'll be going to anything that looks like a rally,"
he said, and The Miami Herald will pay if it has to. He later qualified that by
saying the paper would take into account the importance of the candidate and the
event, and if the paper appeared to be paying inordinately for any one
candidate.
I think this approach best serves the reader. We will all now monitor how the
paper lives up to its word.
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